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This is a logo I designed this past summer for the soundSCAPE Music Festival which is a new music festival that takes place in Italy every year. It’s a chance for electronic and new music composers have their works performed and also for musicians to play new chamber music and work with contemporary composers. It’s in it’s third year now and is a wonderful festival that seems to be taking hold as a premier new music event.

Jazz has been a longtime passion of mine. Outside of design, I think playing jazz is one of the most satisfying things I do. I’ve played in a variety of jazz groups, but I’ve always really loved playing in big bands. When I was in college, I played in the KU Jazz Ensemble every semester I was there and some of my best musical moments were in that band. We played a lot of different modern jazz music composed by the likes of Maria Schneider, Vince Mendoza, Jim McNeely, Bob Brookmeyer, the director Dan Gailey and many others. This music has become some of my favorite of all time and I love any chance I get to perform it.

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A really fun client I’ve been working with over the past year is the KU Dance Company. Below is the poster we did for a concert last week. I always find it interesting to meet people in different area of the arts and the members of this group are great people. I am, admittedly, a bit ignorant about dance, but it is a beautiful thing to watch and I’ve loved seeing their performances.

Ann Evans, the executive director of the Lawrence Arts Center, has announced her retirement effective Dec. 31, 2007. She has been a monumental force in not only the rise of the LAC since it’s creation in 1974, but also in promoting local artists. Her hard work has helped make the Lawrence Arts Center one of the premier art centers in Kansas and it will be interesting to see what direction the LAC will take under new leadership in 2008. Thanks to Ann for all the work she’s done and congrats on the retirement!

Congratuations to the 2007 Phoenix Award winners! The Phoenix Award is given by the Lawrence Arts Commission to recognize outstanding achievements in the arts in the Lawrence community. This town is really lucky to have such amazing support for all art forms and there are so many world class artists living in the area who’s talents help make it a great place to live. This year’s winners were:

Kathy Pryor, Arts Administrator
Ted Johnson, Arts Advocate
Janeal Krehbiel, Musical Arts
Vince Gnojek, Performing Arts
KT Walsh, Visual Arts
Joyce Schild, Arts Volunteer
Linda Frost, Arts Volunteer
Barb Wasson, Exceptional Artistic Achievement

I’d especially like to congratulate my dad, Vince Gnojek for winning in the performing arts category! I could tell at the awards reception that he was deeply touched and honored to be on stage with everyone. He is truly one of the finest musicians I know and I’m extremely happy that all of his hard work has been recognized! Also, thanks to Kip Haaheim for his kind introduction.

A memorable moment at the awards ceremony was KT Walsh’s speech who asked everyone to take a pledge to the arts which was a humorous way remind people that there is an instinctual need for creativity in our lives and we need to recongnize it on a daily basis. She also gave out several bags of found items that the audience will take and create street art with for display downtown on Nov. 24th.

You can read more about each of the winners here online.